Twentieth Stroke – Upon the Edge
The massive blades met with hideous force and stood there, stuck as Jessica and Katherine pressed their strength against each other. Neither seized any immediate advantage before, without any prior indication it would happen, the pair jerked apart. They dashed around in wide circles, blades high, and legs churning. They did not close right away, but instead each jockeyed and shifted for position, searching out a momentary lapse or an approach that would provide an opening.
It was all happening very fast, and Sylvia strained to see, to catch the movements, extending all her senses including her yoki sensitivity. This last helped little, for it seemed Katherine was suppressing her yoki to some degree. It must be a consequence of maintaining her human form, Sylvia reasoned. But why is she bothering to fight at all without shifting form? She couldn't understand. An awakened being was far more potent in its true form, and it was fairly clear that in this sort of battle Jessica was assuredly the better swordsmen. In testament to this Katherine slowly gave ground, falling back before a flurry of rapid overhead strikes she blocked on barely in time.
"What do we do now?" Racquel's voice jolted Sylvia and she was forced to recall that the pair of them was presently doing nothing but watch their comrade fight. "Should we help Jessica?"
It was a pertinent question, as the crash of swords punctuated the morning air. Jessica swept low, cutting under Katherine's guard, but the awakened being managed to stumble back abruptly, force the blow off with an exertion of brute strength, and regain her balance. Silently the single digit shifted her grip and kept up the attack. What do we do? Sylvia wondered. Do we help? If we do what will that accomplish? She recalled her previous fights with awakened beings for a moment, those harrowing flashes of chaos and disorder in her memory. She had helped then, surrounding and striking out against far more powerful enemies in an effort to split the awakened being's defenses, generating an opening a more skilled warrior could exploit. It won't work here, Sylvia realized. Katherine's too small. It recalled a lesson Tyrin had given her, about facing multiple opponents. 'With weapons such as swords, two do not have any great advantage over one' the soldier had explained. 'There is only so much space about a person, and a sword requires room to swing, two men may try to attack over each other, and actually produce a disadvantage.' Looking at that rapid dance of swinging blades, Sylvia realized this was such a situation. "We can't act," she said aloud. "We'd only get in Jessica's way, our swords are too big."
"Do we just watch then?" Racquel's tone made it clear that she couldn't accept that passive course.
Sylvia couldn't either, she admitted privately. She was not brave, but she wouldn't stand aside, not like this, not against an enemy they had come so far and lost so much to come to grips with. Lynne's eyes flashed in her memory, and she knew she wanted to strike a blow at the cause standing before her. "We have to wait, but stand ready," she told Racquel, gradually recognizing what must be done. "Jessica has the advantage, but Katherine won't die like this," Unless she made a huge mistake and allowed Jessica to slice her head free or torso in two Sylvia recognized it would not happen, the current battle was a farce. "She'll have to reveal her true form. There should be a pause then, a moment of delay, that's when we strike."
"I understand," Racquel nodded; her sword ready.
Jessica spun about away from Katherine for a moment, and the awakened being jumped backwards to avoid a thrust. "Irritant," she spat. "You're annoyingly quick. I suppose you're a single digit then. What number?"
The single digit did not reply, simply stepped forward, and circled right for another attack, blade high.
The massive blades crossed, struck hard, and then Jessica dodged backward, backflipping over a counterstroke and dashing away quick thrusts, lacking force but not letting Katherine get in a heavy blow.
A test, Sylvia realized grimly. Katherine has greater raw strength than Jessica. It was hardly surprising, most awakened beings had vastly enhanced power, even in false forms, but it was discouraging. Jessica does seem to be faster though, so maybe she can find an opening. Had Sylvia believed any god would listen to a half-human half-yoma she would have prayed then. As it was, she could only hold sword and yoki force in readiness, waiting for a chance to come.
It was a strange fight, as it went on, for Katherine grunted and hissed and spat insults as she blocked and countered Jessica's attacks, but the single digit said nothing, maintaining a disconcerting silence broken only by steady breathing. No words, no noise, only poised control of her weapon. The growing anger on Katherine's face could be seen, as the awakened being slowly lost control.
Is this a strategy? Sylvia dared to wonder. Jessica might be acting deliberately, hoping to cause the awakened being to lose control and burst into her true form. If she did that while too close she might well be vulnerable to being carved up completely. Knuckles tightening, Sylvia tried to sense the flow of yoki and wait for a moment when it surged.
Anger contorting her features, Katherine charged, blade held flat, as if to simply spear through Jessica's defense and pierce her belly.
The single digit shifted, pivoting her body, shifting her sword, and let the attack come on.
Jessica's arms suddenly moved at blurring speed, spinning her sword around in tight narrow circles as she made a single step to the side. Katherine's blade flashed past her body, with the tip of Jessica's own claymore now inside her guard.
The awakened being planted a foot down and smashed her body to one side, but not before taking a long gash along her right side, slicing at the uniform along the hip with a tearing of metal as the guards were wrenched aside.
"You bitch!" Katherine roared, and her features twisted.
"Get ready!" Sylvia hissed to Racquel.
Jessica did not give up her momentary advantage. Her eyes burned yellow as she bolted after the unbalanced awakened being, her sword still held forward. She had little power that way, but with her enemy's sword to one side and her body exposed there was an opening to jab. Again and again and a third time the tip of the great blade pierced white fabric, tearing cloth and pale skin beneath, leaving little triangular splotches of blood to stain the rest.
All three hits came to the legs, and none were serious by the standards even of a Claymore, never mind an awakened being, but they bled Katherine, increasing her anger and her uncertainty, making her lose focus, creating opportunities. It was hard to see from a distance, but Sylvia thought each strike might be a bit deeper than the last. With luck, Jessica could continue the blows long enough to take a leg clean off, which might well decide the outcome.
Katherine was not so easily taken in. She had a shown a keen mind in planning her attacks before, and she knew the strategies of Claymores. So she acted after the third blow, stopping her motion and bringing her sword around in a roundhouse sweep.
Jessica's point of steel penetrated a fourth time, carving deep into the flesh of the right thigh, but she could not go any further, having to roll away from the oncoming counter and rise to her feet at an equal position again, blade before her.
"You've ruined my uniform," Katherine hissed and sputtered. "So I suppose another little pinprick or two won't hurt, not when I take your head!"
She raised her sword overhead, a high position with both hands behind it, ready to make a massive top-down blow. Muscles in her legs rippled and groaned, swelling with power as yoki was channeled. "Die!" Katherine howled, charging head on.
Sylvia's eyes widened in shock when Jessica chose to meet that charge with her own. Madness! Katherine's strength is great and now they match for speed, she'll rip right through Jessica's attack!
The charges came together, but suddenly Jessica planted her left foot before her, well before the blades would connect.
What? Sylvia's eyes could barely see what was happening.
All of Jessica's momentum suddenly shifted as her whole body twisted about, bringing her blade up in a tight arc around her body, turning completely so that when the pair of massive blades met the single digit's sword met the awakened being's on a downward course of its own, but slicing in from the side with all the power of the screw-motion spin behind it.
There was an ear-splitting crash. Sparks flared and then Katherine roared in shock, but it did not contain the chaos, and steel crashed upon steel again, and then a third and fourth time.
Dust settled about the two fighters and Sylvia looked on in astonishment. Katherine's chest had been narrowly grazed by the tip of the blade four times, cutting ragged lines of blood across it, no doubt far shallower wounds than the silent single digit had intended to carve. Yet this was nothing compared to the shocking scene of the awakened being holding a hilt connected only to a shattered arm length of blade, and four pieces of mangled steel lying upon the ground. Jessica's whirling attack had struck clear through with each of her circling strikes, severing the incredibly hard blades the Claymores wielded.
"Tsk, how wretched," Katherine's voice was filled with aggravation, but surprisingly calm. "Well then," she stepped back several steps. "I suppose I'll have to fight you like…this…then," her voice deepened and her body started to tear apart, expanding upward and outward in every direction.
"Now!" Sylvia shouted, already bolting forward, but she suspected the chance was gone; Katherine's sudden calmness had ruined any opportunity.
The awakened being's body shifted and contorted, growing much taller, at least three times that height of a man, and it shifted and bent as it did so. Her legs remained slender, but the feet widened and the joints rippled, becoming almost birdlike. Shoulders broadened massively, hulking and ogrish like those of a yoma, her hands contorting into long and deadly claws. Katherine's head seemed to flatten out and a pair of long plated ridges grew out from the top of her skull, giving her the strange appearance of a frog wearing a helmet. Last of all, just as Sylvia and Racquel charged up on the flanks to make a hoped for strike, long tendrils of flesh shot out from the shoulder blades and ankles, hardened and twisted into long and sharp sickle-spears, gleaming deadly as they moved about as completely new limbs.
One of these frightful leg blades lashed out toward Sylvia, blocking her attack completely and throwing her backwards with tremendous force. She barely managed to stay upright, skidding to a stop by slamming her blade into the dirt as a break. Racquel flipped away on the other side, likewise thwarted by those eerie dangling cleavers.
"I hate this form," Katherine's voice was erratic, garbled, almost mumbled. "It's disgusting, but I suppose I need it to get rid of you, single digit." She took a single long stride forward.
"What are your orders Jessica?" Sylvia asked, wondering what to do now, how they would fight this creature. Every awakened being was unique, and a misstep here could mean their end. Looking across to Racquel she could see the young Claymore blanch and tremble, her expression nervous. She had managed that initial attack, but now the horror and projection of yoki power confused and frightened her. It afflicted Sylvia as well, the horrible presence of an awakened being, terrifyingly strong, but she managed to barely hang onto focus. She'd survived this before, and she reminded herself that she'd need to stay ready to survive this now. They could win, they were winning, really, she just needed Jessica to give her a plan.
"Circle around," Jessica ordered. "I will make her move forward, strike then."
"Right," Sylvia nodded. She had no idea whether or not it would work, but it was a plan, and she needed a plan now, something to trust in.
Carefully, mirroring Racquel's movements, she moved back around behind Katherine, staying wide, knowing those strange cleavers hanging from shoulders and sprouting from the legs might well be able to extend some distance, and even if not the fingers surely could.
Jessica stood calmly before the hulking awakened being, holding her sword low and to the right side, as she did before her great spinning charges like the one she had used against the yoma before. In this Sylvia glimpsed the single-digit's plan. Jessica would charge with all her spinning power and Katherine would have to counter-charge, or see her defense smashed apart just as her sword had been. In that moment, so long as she could manage to avoid those cleavers on the shoulders and legs there would be a chance to attack. Sword held white-knuckle tight in both hands, Sylvia gathered her yoki, channeling it to muscles for all the speed she could muster, ready to make that agile dash when the moment came.
Whirling Jessica, the organization's eighth-best warrior, charged in at Katherine, a warrior no longer, and she spun about as she came, building the massive whirling force.
Katherine stood motionless.
What? Sylvia gasped in the brief space she had, not understanding how the awakened one simply intended to let that attack slam into her. Do I attack? The situation was not as she predicted and Sylvia hesitated for a critical moment, worried that if she struck out then she'd by slashed apart by Jessica's blade as well. Thus, when she moved a moment later, and Racquel, apparently making the same choice, they would not reach Katherine's position until a bare instant after Jessica had struck home.
Steel sang through the air, dust churned and kicked up pebbles and loose branches, and the mighty blade of the single digit hit home with the squelching sound of a blade slamming deep into flesh.
Then the dust cleared, and Sylvia's heart cried out at what she saw.
Jessica stood before Katherine, but her blade was held fast horizontal to the ground, clenched in the claws of the awakened being. Her sword had slashed through both the cleaving appendages that hung from the shoulders and sprouted from the ankles, but that had robbed them of force, allowing the blade to be held between hard, bleeding claws.
Jessica had no time to do more than wrench uselessly, a single last effort against that grip.
Katherine's fingers shot out twisting over the blade, weaving and slicing, to penetrate many gouges deep into the single digit's torso. Sylvia could tell at once that the wounds were fatal.
"No!" Racquel cried, and resumed her stalled dash, trying to slice off the awakened being's head from behind. Sylvia joined her in the same instant, driven both by sorrow and the recognition that this was their only chance, now, before Katherine had a chance to regenerate those lost appendages.
"Laughable," Katherine chuckled with malice, dropping Jessica to the ground and turning about with lightning speed.
A massive fist came in under Sylvia's blade and she was hurled down, flying along the way she had come, twisting in midair, out of control. Desperately she tried to orient herself but it was all she could do to retain a deadlock on her blade with one hand.
She landed all the way back at the end of the river embankment, on her knees. The bones cracked hideously when she landed and the Claymore knew from the terrible lance of pain that both kneecaps had been shattered. No! she raged, understanding the injury in all its terror. This will not heal quickly. Now I can do nothing but watch Racquel die!
The young warrior had managed to land with greater grace, but she too had been caught and thrown, unable to damage Katherine, who still bled profusely from the wounds Jessica had managed to inflict in her failed attempt to kill this foe. Sylvia felt despair crawl over her, knowing that they had lost, that their enemy had tricked them. She had stood and held position, a thing no Claymore would do in that situation. A human trick! Sylvia realized. She mimicked the Black Wings and their spear-lines. How could we be so stupid as to not see it!
Katherine, laughing, stood between her remaining foes. Racquel was still behind her, but she turned to face the fallen Sylvia. No, Sylvia realized in horror, looking to her the right of where she lay, trying to find the focus to channel yoki toward healing. The awakened one was staring at Tyrin.
The human woman stood tall some few feet in front of Sylvia. Her sword was out and still stained with the blood of men killed earlier, but she had made no moves so far, wisely staying out of this madness.
"So?" Katherine's gaze met Tyrin's armored visage. "You are the source of all my setbacks, the annoying human who disrupted my scheme. I am most angry with you," she sneered, grimacing awfully in her flattened expression. "I shall slowly consume your guts as punishment, while you yet live to watch it."
In that moment Sylvia knew she would die. It filled her with a strange sense of regret. Many regrets, ones she could not name, things unfulfilled and left behind, they flooded through her, but she pushed them down beneath her pain, knowing none of this changed the reality of the situation. There was, she knew, one thing yet she might do. "Run!" she bellowed with all her strength. "Run Tyrin! Run Racquel! Save yourselves! We cannot win now! Go!"
Above her on the slope toward the town, Racquel hesitated. Shook her head slowly, and then looked down at all who remained, Katherine, Tyrin, Sylvia lying in a heap, and the crowd of yoma still standing off. Her eyes flashed Sylvia a look that would lodge ice cold in her memory forever, so terrible was the self-loathing, but she turned and dashed away upstream, into the shelter of the timber plantings there.
Tyrin turned to Sylvia for a moment, and though her eyes were hidden by her helmet, her mouth had compressed thin as a razor. She started to look upstream as well, and Sylvia felt a bit of hope that at least she might survive.
Then there was a burst of motion, and suddenly Katherine's great form, still missing pieces, was between the two.
"I guess running isn't an option then," Tyrin's voice was iron as she turned to face Katherine, now between her and Sylvia, and the river as well. "Well, I won't cower." She held her sword before her in full readiness.
"Good," Katherine lisped. "Embrace your death, the death you must have known would come. How could you, a mere pathetic human, hope to embroil yourself in our affairs and survive? Your kind makes suitable pawns, but nothing more. Without numbers and your technological contrivances you have no power. Here, I will prove it," Katherine laughed with her head thrown back, a reptilian sound, half-dead in origin. "My defenses are as weak as they shall ever be. Take your best swing at me if you dare." She spread her arms wide.
Chapter Notes: This was really hard to do, and took a long while because I kept stalling on it. Part of the difficulty is Katherine. Awakened Beings are almost impossible to describe and just very difficult to handle properly in the purely written medium, I think they work much better when drawn. Regardless, Katherine's appearance is generally based of the 'Double-Edges' a type of Mecha from Blue Gender (they had the whole cleaver-blades out of the shoulder thing that I'd thought would work perfectly in an awakened being for ages). This is partly a very roundabout homage to Claymore, since in Blue Gender the lead female role, Marlene Angel, was voiced by Kuwashima Houko, who also voiced Clare in the Claymore anime, and the two characters (both blond no-nonsense military ladies who conceal a softer side) are extremely similar.
Poor Jessica passes very abruptly here, given the circumstances, but she'll get treated further later.